Intravenous injections of KCl could be deadly. why?

Hello I need to answer this examine for my Anatomy class. I will apreciate your help.

Answers: Ale, KCl is emphatically fatal if deliver intravenously in a bolus - when we impart 10 mEq an hour slowly (diluted in 100 or 200 ml of regular saline), it is not fatal at adjectives.

When you give someone a massive amount of KCl at once in their bloodstream, it get pumped to the heart muscle as it cycles through the body and heart. If the extracellular potassium level of the heart muscle get close to the intracellular potassium level, depolarization will not come to pass. Which means the heart will not pummel. If the heart does not restart, you die.

Why does this work this way? Biochemistry - the potassium is the principle intracellular cation [+] and is suspended by the extracellular cation sodium. When cells "depolarize", it is because something triggers the membrane to initiate up the ion channels and Na rushes inward, K rushes outward.

From a positive charge to positive charge relationship, this doesn't gross sense. But remember, concentrations of species drives diffusion....so highly concentrated intracellular potassium will suddenly exchange out of the cell to the lower potassium concentration out there, notably concentrated extracellular Na rushes inward to where within is a lower concentration of Na - even though it is just swapping charges. And although the sodium go inward, the inside of the cell actually become negatively charged AT THE MEMBRANE....you can see this depolarization using EMG 's (for muscles and nerves), and ECG 's (for the heart muscle).

There are little pumps that then turn on and pump the Na and K pay for to where they belong......we are conversation about tiny amounts of respectively, and microseconds for the depolarization to occur, milliseconds for the repolarization to go on.